NYLPM blogs the blogs: Guy at Blahness writes: “I think that simplicity at times, especially when it manages to tap into some emotional response, can be extremely, extremely powerful. Space Invader bleeps may sound cool for a few years, but they don’t determine the artistic “merit” of modern music.”. Tsch! It’s the simplicity of ‘bleep music’ (remembering fondly here when ‘Bleep’ was a genre as well as a noise) that gives it power, too. And Travis are ‘simple’ in the same unpleasant, conceited way that Ikea furniture can be. I am surprised though that Tim doesn’t like them more, given his penchant for iffy blusterous rock.
And Atley at Atesque writes “I’m going to let Napster do it’s job and peace and go to sleep. I’ve got like 5 albums queued to bring tonights total up to 7 albums. My burner is going to be busy! I’m getting some Lifetime, Elliot, Discount, Saves The Day, Dismemberment Plan, and At the Drive in”. I have to admit it’s posts like this that make my enthusiasm for the MP3 revolution quaver a bit. It’s all very well talking about a new business model for the music industry, but it’s not in place yet, and I’m leaning more and more to the idea that we should at least pay lip service to the old one while that’s what’s around, by buying CDs by the smaller artists who do probably actually need the money while we download Britney tracks left, right and centre. Yes, indie and punk rock were built on the provision of cheap, even free, music, which in turn built up a ‘scene’ etc. etc., but the point is that it was an artist’s choice to play free shows or give away CDs – in fact it was that very freedom of choice which ideally separated indie artists from major label counterparts (it certainly wasn’t the music quality). Download culture takes that choice away, which may be inevitable, but it doesn’t make that right. What a tangled business this ethics of MP3s is, eh.
(In the spirit of full disclosure: I’ve downloaded 2 full albums since getting a computer with a soundcard. Neither of them I’ve burned, one of them I intend to buy, one of them I’m not decided on yet.)
NB: The above isn’t meant to be an attack on Atley, who I don’t know at all and who for all I know may be just like me and use MP3s as a buyer’s-guide more than a source of free music (and even if he doesn’t he’s not a bad person etc.). It’s more a development of the train of thought kicked off here.